


Azimuth.

by Alcalexandria



Category: Dark Fate - Fandom, Terminator (Movies), Terminator - All Media Types, Terminator: Dark Fate
Genre: Canon Divergent, F/F, Road Trip, Slow Burn, and there was only one bed, present day
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:21:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28279833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alcalexandria/pseuds/Alcalexandria
Summary: After the battle at the dam, Dani and Grace figure out how to live on the road.
Relationships: Grace Harper/Dani Ramos
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	1. Night.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a long form story I've been working on for a long time. I think it's on the home stretch though, so time to start posting it.
> 
> Chapters will vary in length due to the format, you'll see why, but I plan to post in clusters where necessary so each update is worth reading. You will probably want to use the "Entire Work" view.
> 
> As ever, every bit of feedback makes a huge difference. It makes it a million times more rewarding to post.

The first night laid down the routine they’d come to live by for many nights after.

There were only two rooms left at the first place they stopped, and they took them. Grace hadn’t wanted to be far from Dani, of course, and Sarah made it clear she was definitely happier with a room of her own, so it worked out neatly.

The guy at the desk tossed the keys at them, returning to his TV without even glancing at them. Bleeding women, alone or in groups, were apparently no novelty here.

They were double rooms, most rooms in dives like this were - not many families or travelling salesmen filling these places these days. They were all too tired to care. Grace insisted she didn’t need a bed anyway, that she had work she needed to do.

It was her way of saying “ _I’ll keep watch_ ” and Sarah cut Dani off when she tried to argue. She was too tired to make a real fight of it anyway.

Dani was more tired than she could ever imagine that first night - Sarah looked exhausted too, but somehow more alive than Dani had seen her before. It was Grace who had gotten the worst of it – she was badly beat up, but after sixty five dollars worth of drive-through food and soda, she'd insisted she was okay. She _seemed_ okay, more or less - although if she had looked just one scratch worse, as tired as Dani felt, she wouldn’t have accepted her word for it.

For now, Dani was just grateful to have a bed to collapse in. Fully dressed, just for a second, just to catch her breath. Last she remembered seeing, Grace was sitting with her back to her at the wobbly little table by the door, preparing batches of her meds - but she was out cold a moment later.

She woke up with a blanket over her, and her boots neatly paired on the floor. Grace was sitting at the table, chewing on a protein bar, watching the door.


	2. Day.

Dani would do most of the talking; she really did have a gift with people. She’d get good at figuring out discreet ways to ask for rooms far from the reception building very quickly.

They talked a lot about where they’d go next.

Her first instinct, despite everything, was that they should try for Mexico, but Sarah ruled it out for now at least. It wasn’t a crazy suggestion long term, she granted, but all three of them were too high on the radar to cross the border again this soon. Even if they somehow made it over, Mexico itself would be hot - Grace had beaten up a bunch of cops, Sarah had broken out explosives on a public highway, and Dani herself was supposed to be dead. She needed to stay dead for as long as possible.

For now, they decided, they’d head north and maybe east, and keep moving. They would need something more stable eventually - they couldn’t just hop from motel to motel forever - but they’d manage that way for a while. For now the main thing was just to put miles behind them, as many as they could get.


	3. Night.

“Grace… Can you sleep?”

Grace looks up in surprise. She’d been sitting in the cheap little wickerwork chair for hours. Stock still, since she realized it how easy it creaked under her weight.

“Uh. Yeah. Don’t need much, but yeah.”

Dani tries again.

“ _Will_ you sleep? Please?”

The chair creaks a little.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about it. I'll sleep in the car.”

From the bed, Dani sighs impatiently.

“If you won’t, I can’t."

A puzzled silence.

“Sleep, I can’t get to sleep.”

“…Oh.” Grace says, clearly at a loss. 

“I mean I can’t relax properly with you sitting over there with your eyes open not moving. It’s… spooky. And I always feel bad for taking the bed.”

_And everything’s just too cold here, and too quiet, and too far away, and too-_

Grace doesn’t move.

"Will you at least lie down? Even if you’re not going to sleep?”

Grace doesn’t answer right away, and in the dark Dani can’t read her features.

“I don’t know if that-“

“I’m not asking you to fuck me Grace. Just… sleep with me.”

She hears a quiet scoff of startled amusement, and rolls her eyes.

“Ugh. Lie next to me, whatever. You know what I mean. And don’t laugh at me, I’m needing to speak more English than you do.”

She hears nothing; then a reluctant sigh.

The chair creaks again dramatically as Grace stands up.

She feels weight shift on the bed as Grace climbs on and lays down. She pauses there awkwardly for a moment - Dani waits for her to settle, still too aware of some kind of tension from her to relax.

A few stiff beats pass like this.

Maybe this is worse, she thinks.

Grace doesn’t settle there after all though. Instead, she sighs grudgingly, rolls over, and slings an arm loosely over Dani’s middle, pulling herself in against her body.

Dani is surprised at the presumption maybe but - she discovers - not displeased.

Maybe she needs some human contact again after everything.

Grace feels strong and safe against her, and the uncanny heat of her body is comforting, even if she hasn’t bothered taking off her own jeans or boots.

She can feel Grace relax a little more the more she relaxes herself.

Dani takes her own chance. She backs against her, and folds her own hand over Grace’s to make sure she knows it belongs where it is.

She sleeps soundly.


End file.
